Optical Furnace temperatures can reach 800 degrees Celsius. (Credit: Ray David -- NREL)

Black Silicon Etching

Another emerging silicon process with the potential to increase solar efficiency at a cheaper cost than has previously been feasible is Black Silicon Nanocatalytic Wet-Chemical Etch. Put simply, this combination etching-coating technique darkens crystalline wafers in order to cut back on the amount of unharnessed sunlight that is reflected off of the surface of a photovoltaic panel. Impressively, results have shown absorption of 98% of the light received by panels treated this way.

Solar Forecasting

One of the biggest knocks against solar energy has always been its unreliability. You can burn coal whenever you want, but what do you do with solar in the case of an overcast day? It’s not as though people are going to cut their electricity usage whenever the clouds move in. That’s why the work being done at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering is so meaningful.
     Subsidized in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, Jan Kleissl and his colleagues at UCSD use sky imaging tools to create intra-hour solar production forecasts. A 360-degree view of the sky, taken every few seconds, combined with data derived from weather station climate sensors, is entered into a computing system that is able to anticipate where the clouds are headed. Satellite information makes the system even smarter. Once solar storage capabilities are improved and added to the mix, grid operators will ideally be able to sense when they’ll be facing depleted supply and take proactive measures to compensate.
     Breakthroughs like these help make the case that the forecast for solar energy itself would appear to be more promising than is often described. Setting Solyndra and other failed initiatives aside, there are some bright ideas out there and industrious people that stand ready to prove the naysayers wrong.